2020 Speakers

Tom Yamamoto

Tom’s humble beginnings in the animation world started at Duck Studios as a digital ink and painter. He moved on to become a Post Production Producer for FX Networks promotions, YouTube Awkwafina’s TAWK, and nine TCM televised film documentaries for the award-winning documentarian Laurent Bouzereau. For the past eight years he has been working in the feature film industry as an Assistant Editor for New Line Cinema and STX Entertainment, working alongside James Wan (The Conjuring 2) and Melissa McCarthy (Life of the Party, Happytime Murders). The feature he was apart of was the newly released “The Craft: Legacy”.

Back in 2011, Tom Yamamoto ran to his ma with reams of paper full of doodles and scripts following two characters he’d named Rus and Chelli. After a long conversation over snacks and juices, Peggy realized that Tom had some legs on his idea. The team was formed. A year later, they had a child together and named it In The Belly with Rus + Chelli.

In 2017 they launched a successful crowdfunding campaign, and with the help of a couple writers and animators across the sea they are now producing the first batch of episodes. The first and only (maybe, maybe not) mother + son duo bring you the deranged world of Rus and Chelli!

George Snow

George Snow was trained as a graphic designer and filmmaker at Hornsey College of Art, London. After being thrown out for hitting the Head of Department he returned 10 years later as a teacher. He was among the first photographers to cover the widespread unrest in Northern Ireland after the introduction of Internment Without Trial. His work was widely published in the Left Wing press. He designed all of the early Star Wars books and magazines but abandoned that trade after discovering video and software programming in the mid 80’s.

His most successful videos were ‘I’ve Been Thinkin’ About you’ for London Beat and ‘The Assignation’ for Channel 4 in London. He is a keen sportsman and runs the highly successful Bike Palestine cycle tour. www.bikepalestine.com . He presently lives as a recluse in his castle in Tuscany.

Dennis Kostyk

Dennis Kostyk is the President of Kostyk Communications Inc, a consulting firm with diverse clients in the media and entertainment industries. Dennis has 30 years of senior responsibility in the development of television and video companies, including corporate start-up and turnaround activities for diverse organizations in the fields of film/video production, animation, distribution and media networks.

He has significant hands-on experience in creative development, management, financing, strategic planning and the tactical implementation of business models for organizations facing change and reorganization. www.kostykcommunications.com

Alan Greenblatt

ALLAN GREENBLATT’S EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE in the film business is wide-ranging and multifaceted.

A producer of feature length motion pictures as well as having held executive positions with a number of companies, including Seabird International, Global Pictures, Pathe Films and Cannon Films, where his various responsibilities included production, distribution, international sales & marketing, management, operations.

His film credits include over a dozen feature-length motion pictures, for which he served as producer or executive-in-charge of production. As an executive at Cannon Films and Pathe Films he was associated during his tenure with well over two hundred feature length motion pictures.

He founded FilmHouse Ltd., the leading distribution company based in Israel which focuses on animation movies. As CEO, Greenblatt
acquires the rights to animation movies, negotiates contracts, and develops marketing strategies and
campaigns for each film, amongst other things.

Cristian Moras

Cristian Moras is a thirty year plus CGI veteran that has worked on several roles in his career. From freelance 3d artist to head of cinematic department in the gaming industry, to CG Generalist in the television industry (commercials and TV series), and Lighter/compositor in the Film industry.

All these roles have given him a unique “perspective” on this wonderful world of 3d content creation, specially combining the best of all those worlds, which is where the Entertainment industry is heading now. Content, content, content.